We now know the two women’s finalists at the 2024 United States Open on Saturday. They are Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open champion, and Jessica Pegula of the United States. Sabalenka, is the second seed, while Pegula is the sixth seed.
In the semifinals on Thursday, Sabalenka defeated the 13th seed American Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6. It was clear that Navarro had the support of the American crowd. Not just because Navarro was the underdog, but because she was a native of New York City as well. One reason why Sabalenka got the win is because she had eight aces compared to only one for Navarro.
The second set tiebreak was dominated by Sabalenka. She outscored Navarro 7-2.
Pegula, like Navarro, is a native New Yorker, and had local support against the unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Pegula came through with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win. After Muchova dominated the first set, Pegula showed strong resiliency and won 12 of the next 18 games. In an interesting statistic, both players won 87 points, but Pegula won her points at the right time.
Sabalenka has won five of seven matches all-time against Pegula. Sabalenka’s wins came in the first round of the 2020 French Open (6-3, 6-1), in the third round of Madrid in 2021 (6-1, 6-2), in the third round of the 2022 Italian Open (6-1, 6-4), in the round robin of the 2022 WTA Finals in Fort Worth (6-3, 7-5), and in the round robin of the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun (6-4, 6-3). Pegula’s wins came in the third round of the 2020 Western & Southern Open in New York (6-2, 2-6, 6-3) and in the round robin of the 2023 WTA Finals in Mexico (6-4, 6-3).
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